The Florida shooter who killed a man after being shoved has a history of recklessly handling his gun.

A Florida man with a concealed weapon permit who took it upon himself to patrol a convenience store parking lot was convicted of manslaughter Friday for killing a man over a handicapped parking space.

Wannabe cop Michael Drejka insisted he shot a man out of fear for his life last July, but it took the jury six hours to conclude that was a lie.

But because of Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, it took nearly a month for prosecutors to charge Drejka with manslaughter. And only after a national outcry.

Drejka had a history of threatening to kill people over minor issues, flashing his gun at people, then pulling out his gun permit when questioned by police but karma finally caught up to him this week.

"The jury in this case sent a crystal clear message – violent racism has no place in American society," McGlockton family attorney Benjamin Crump said. "Today’s verdict marks a victory over stand your ground.”

The incident took place on July 19, 2018 when Markeis McGlockton, his girlfriend Britany Jacobs and their children pulled into a convenience store on a seemingly regular Thursday afternoon. Jacobs parked her car and stayed back while McGlockton and their son shopped in the Circle A Food Store.

Markeis McGlockton

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Detectives said then 24-year-old Jacobs was waiting outside when an eager Michael Drejka, twice her age, walked up to her, taking an issue with Jacobs being improperly parked in a handicapped parking spot.

A witness saw Drejka and Jacobs arguing and told the clerk in the store. That’s when McGlockton stepped out to see what was happening.

Surveillance footage shows McGlockton pushing Drejka to the ground, seeing that he was intimidating his girlfriend.

Within four, no more than five seconds, Drejka, still on the ground, whipped out his handgun and fired a single shot into McGlockton’s chest. The father soon collapsed in the convenient store and died 36 minutes later at a nearby hospital.

Deputies were on the scene and spoke with Drejka but could not arrest him because Florida's "stand your ground" law allows police to investigate but not arrest a person for defending themselves unless it was deemed unlawful.

“Markeis wouldn’t be dead if Markeis didn’t slam this guy to the ground,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a press conference held a day after the shooting.

During his interrogation by Pinellas County sheriff's detectives, Drejka used cop language to describe why he was in fear for his life, saying "If he hadn't twitched, I would have never pulled the trigger. The feet said he was coming toward me and so did the hips."

But surveillance footage showed he took a step away from Drejka as soon as McGlockton saw his gun.

Drejka also said people parking in the handicapped spot pissed him off because what if “his mother-in-law rolls in?”

She died in 2011.

Just shy of a month following McGlockton’s death, after protests and public outcry, Bernie McCabe, state attorney for Pinellas County, arrested Drejka and charged him with manslaughter.

The Shooter’s Past

Prosecutors questioned Drejka’s reason to pull the trigger, noting his confrontational approach in the McGlockton shooting and his reckless past with his gun.

At the press conference held after the shooting, a reporter revealed the owner of the convenience store said Drejka “was a nuisance there.” Files and reports also showed that since 2012, Drejka had been accused of letting his anger get the best of him in four incidents.

Two 18-year-olds said Drejka followed them in his black pickup in 2012 because he was angry they cut him off. The teens said Drejka flashed his gun to them after stopping at a traffic light.

They wrote down the truck’s license plate number and cops traced the car back to Drejka and confronted him at his Clearwater home. Drejka denied following the teens and threatening them with his gun, but the cops didn’t buy it. They warned him he was lucky the teens didn’t file a criminal complaint because he could have lost his concealed carry permit.

Later that year, another group of people sought help from a Largo cop after being threatened with a gun by Drejka while in his black pickup.

The alleged crime? The group was driving too slow in a school zone.

When the cop pulled him over, without asking a single question, Drejka held up his license and concealed carry permit and asserted he didn’t threaten anyone.

For the second time, passengers in another car reported being threatened by Drejka with a gun and for the second time, cops found it highly suspicious that random people would lie about seeing a gun in a stranger’s car.

Drejka went on to brake check a mother and her two children in 2013 causing an estimated $8,000 in damages to her car and threatened to shoot another person in 2018 over the same handicapped parking spot, at the same convenience store McGlockton was shot at.

Drejka called Rick Kelly’s job to tell his boss he was "lucky I didn’t blow his head off."

"I said, ‘I’m sorry you feel that way, that you feel that it’s justified to take someone’s life over a parking space,’" owner of the Clearwater septic tank company John Tyler said. "That was the chilling part about it when I found out who it was with the (McGlockton) situation."

Detective George Moffett pressed Drejka in his interrogation, asking if he was ever concerned about potentially violent confrontations when he deals with people who improperly park in handicapped spots without calling the police.

"That's why I take precautions. I'm a very careful person. I have a [concealed weapon] permit," Drejka said.

Moffett later updated Drejka that McGlockton died to which he replied, “Thanks for telling me.”

“When reasonable fear is presumed, the burden of proof lies with the dead”

With support from the National Rifle Association, Florida shifted the burden of proof from the defendant to the prosecutor in “SYG” cases in 2017. This means instead of the shooter proving she or he was scared, the victim, or in McGlockton’s case, the victim’s family, must prove the shooter’s means do not justify the end.

Many worry “SYG” laws provide racists legal ways to kill. Since Florida passed its version of the law in 2005 and other states followed suit, the number of justified homicides in pro-SYG states increased exponentially.

In 2010, there were 222 justified homicides in pro-SYG states versus 104 justified homicides in non-SYG states. In 2000, there was only a combined amount of 176 justified homicides.

Race, Racism and the Law found that, “since 2005, on average white on black killings are justified 17% of the time while black on white killings are justified 1% of the time” in pro-SYG states. The statistics are similar in non-SYG states.

Critics have also long accused the controversial law as a “shoot first, ask questions later” defense. Michael Dunn tried arguing that defense when he shot 10 bullets into a car and killed Jordan Davis in 2012 because he and his friends were playing their music too loud.

He opened fire within four minutes.

"You aren't going to talk to me like that," a witness heard him say before opening fire, killing the 17-year-old.

Dunn is now serving a life sentence without parole.

Comments (21)

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No. 1-4

ShelD3000

Aug 27

Send his racist arse to prison. He deserves whatever he got coming while he's in there.

AirWolf

Aug 25

This was a Gross Miscarriage of justice. He was convicted because of all the Racial Pressure that was brought on by this. He was Physically Assaulted by that gentleman and he had a right to Defend himself. Dont want to possibly get shot, Dont Attack another person for ANY REASON. He got & shot and died because he had a short temper and decided he would PHYSICALLY ASSAULT someone he was going to have a disagreement with. I WOULD HAVE SHOT HIM AS WELL IF I WAS IN THAT SITUATION.

Let them Flame Wars begin

15 replies

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Bergman

Aug 25

Self defense laws are not hunting licenses for human prey. His victim was also standing his ground, defending his girlfriend from being harassed by a crazy person.

If shoving someone justifies deadly force, then fighting words justify a shove. It’s not self defense if you start a fight and then draw a gun when you start losing.

AirWolf

Aug 26

Twist it however you wish. That is what every liberal are already doing. He stepped over the line when he initiated the physical confrontation. If he had come out yelling & just using words, I would agree with you. But when you are knocked to the ground by a Larger younger physically fit man, you will be in fear for your life. When I was younger I was knocked to the ground by a bully & a fight ensued. I walked away bruised, he went to the hospital in an ambulance. I beat his head into the pavement. And it was considered SELF DEFENSE. I was sitting on my bicycle when this bully decided he didnt like me & wanted to fight me. So I was defending myself. Same set of circumstances, except he had a GUN. I used my mindset to stay alive to keep myself from being beaten up. Only difference was I used my Hands instead of a Gun and the Bully lived after severe Head Trauma. If he had died I still would have been Free. When you step over the line into using Physical Force, the gloves come off. Dont like it, then control your temper and dont get physical. REAL SIMPLE IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. But then again we have seen how Liberalisim is a Mental Health Disorder these days.

Bergman

Aug 26

So you’re saying that if you saw a strange man shouting in your wife’s, girlfriend’s, mother’s or daughter’s face, so close she is being assaulted by their breath and spittle, you’d stand there and do nothing but softly speak soothing words (for fear of provoking him further), hoping the aggressive, angry man will back off?

I’ve never met a conservative that would stand by like that. Plenty of liberals who would, but every conservative I’ve ever met would step between the two in defense of their loved one. Just standing by violates the traditional values conservatives insist upon.

I repeat: self defense laws are not a hunting license, they’re not murder permits. When someone is not a threat to life and limb, you cannot lawfully respond with deadly force. Doing so makes you at least an attempted murderer.

AirWolf

Aug 26

NO, but she was in the car with the window almost completly rolled up. So she was not in Immediate Danger. He could have come out Cussing & Swearing at the top of his voice and still stayed alive. If the guy had shot him then, I would have a different opinion. But now you are trying to twist the facts with a whole bunch of WHAT IF. I am going only what actually happened and I can see. (Thank You Survillence Video) And you are now using Adjectives & such "so close she is being assaulted by their breath and spittle,". In her own testimony she stated she was in the car with her children. I have yet to read any account of him trying to open the doors or assault her physically in anyway. Certainly not like he was assaulted. So Once again you feel you have a Right to be a Bully to someone and initiate a Physical Attack against them. The dont be surprised when you end up getting carried by 6 of your friends. You knock me to the ground from behind, you have put me in fear for my life & well being. And I am going to protect myself. Now go Google what a 50cal Handgun Bullet will do to you. Cause I carry both a Desert Eagle 50AE (Shoulder Harness) and a S&W 500 Magnum (Hip Holster). I will choose which one I grab first to defend myself.

Andh

Aug 26

Dude, I know who this guy is. I've personally seen him before harassing people all around Clearwater and Largo. He's a big nuisance and lots of people figured this sort of thing was gonna happen sooner or later. It's just sad that someone had to die before charges stuck to this guy.

Copslayer

Aug 26

You're a fool. We know one thing for sure he never pulled his gun before. He only pulled it after being attacked.

He was only convicted bc he talked to the cops. For some reason DAs like to pick a theme for the case. This theme was 2 parts 1. Drejka said he would’ve shot even if he was backing up. 2 he says the man was coming forward

The DA used his words against him while arguing the man was backing up.

Had he only said “i was scared for my life i want a lawyer” he would’ve be found innocent.

Secondly the judge should have never allowed the jury to view the video in slow motion.

AirWolf

Aug 27

Good Points. Anytime you are being questioned, you should only answer YES or NO and I WANT A LAWYER. Hopefully this will be overturned on appeall.

Gumps

Aug 27

Freedom of expression is a Constitutional right. Exerting violence over those words is not. Words are not physical violence; apples and oranges. And once you get physical, just as cops would do, you face getting out down for good.

Robert Gantry

Aug 28

That disgusting ape was no gentleman. It was a vicious, violent, talking ape, and it was lining up to kick that man in the face as the man was on the ground. It didn't start to back up until it saw that hand cannon and quickly determined that the man would not be so easily victimized. Screw that monkey faced SOB.

Robert Gantry

Aug 28

Awwwh... The mean man was telling people not to pawk in da handicap spot...?

supervisionrequired

Aug 25

stupid wannabe cop! now you get to loose your guns, go to prison and get your shit pushed in! so what ya gonna do the next time you want to play cop? stupid cop-sucker wannabe!

Copslayer

Aug 25

Should’ve demanded a lawyer instead of talking to the cops. He was convicted bc of the interview.